On April 10, the Whole Foods store in White Plains will donate 5 percent of its sales to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester.

On April 26, the store will supply refreshments for people helping the city’s Youth Bureau and Cornell clear out the community garden beds at Baldwin Farm in White Plains.

Here’s email from Cornell: Read more of this entry »

If I’m in the neighborhood, I always make it a point to swing through the annual Macy’s Flower Show in the Herald Square store.

The two-week show is held on the first floor amid all the display cases, near the Broadway/6th Avenue entrance. The store was packed yesterday. You can really see how lousy the dollar is faring—tons of foreign tourists/shoppers.

This giant flower basket greets you as soon as you come through the door. It’s a replica of the store’s famed exterior.

The show runs through Sunday. It helps to be tall. Almost all of the “gardens” are up above the merchandise.

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The annual Gardiner’s Day for Rockland residents kicks off at noon on Saturday, April 5.

Here’s email from Donna Cook, community horticulture educator at Cornell:

“Gardening classes will be offered for Rockland residents at Gardener’s Day, Saturday, April 5, 2008 from 12:00 to 5:00 pm at the Extension Education Center, 10 Patriot Hills Drive, Stony Point, New York. Read more of this entry »

It almost feels like spring today. I saw my first daffodil in bloom last week in Central Park—it’s never really spring until I see a daffodil or two.

I often cut through the park to get to the East Side and I had a feeling I might find a daffodil in bloom, so I made sure to bring my camera. (I had to climb behind a couple of canoodlers to get close enough for a shot of these.) Read more of this entry »

Here’s a good article by Brad Gurr, a certified arborist with Savatree in Ossining, on why and how trees come down in strong winds.

“Who Has Seen the Wind?

“The title of this article pays homage to W.O. Mitchell’s tale of life on the prairies during the dust bowl years. I don’t think that there could be a more fitting title for a frank discussion of the visible effects of strong winds. We really don’t see the wind, what we do see daily is its dramatic effects on the trees in our landscapes.

“Trees are long lived stationary organisms that deal with wind on a day to day basis.

“The events that lead to dramatic and sometimes tragic failures of trees, branches or entire forests often depend on changes to the trees’ normal environment.

“Take for instance wind, both its direction and strength. For any given location winds will come from a prevailing direction. Trees grow roots and crowns in patterns that compensate for this type of wind. A wind coming from any direction other than the prevailing direction, will cause more damage. Winds also blow at predictable strengths for most locations. Read more of this entry »

Remember those bulbs I potted up in December and stuck in the basement for several weeks? Here’s a link to an earlier post.

Well, I’ve been bringing them back to life, a few pots at a time to spread out the bloom time. First, crocus.

The same pot, in December.

What a treat to have my own flowers in the house this time of year.

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Glynwood Center is hosting a couple of spring classes that look interesting.

Glynwood is a 225-acre working farm and conference center that’s right off Route 301 in Cold Spring. They’re big on local sustainable agriculture.

They’ve been on my radar for a while, but I’ve never been. Perhaps this summer, when the farm and gardens are in full swing.

Here’s email from Geralyn Delaney Graham, who handles PR and marketing for Glynwood: Read more of this entry »

Like most ornamental grasses in the Miscanthus family, the variegated variety known as ‘Morning Light’ looks particularly good in winter. The long-dead feathery flower stalks and blousy foliage light up the cold landscape and sway gently with the slightest of breezes.

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I was so impressed with Doug Tallamy’s talk last week at the Greenwich Library.

I don’t remember ever seeing a normally sedate gardening crowd so excited about a lecture, literally erupting into enthusiastic applause as he finished speaking. He’s clearly hit a nerve about the importance of native plants.

Yesterday, I read 50 or so pages of his book, “Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens,” and can’t wait to read more this weekend.

Here are a few random items from my lecture notes:

“We’re convinced nature is happy someplace else” so we don’t worry about it disappearing from our yard or surrounding community.

100 million acres have been invaded by alien plants; that’s expected to double in next five years.

Goldenrod is the No. 1 perennial for supporting biodiversity.

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Ugh, what a long dull winter. But spring is definitely coming—the light is so completely different than just a few weeks ago. The willow trees are greening up and the first bulbs are beginning to emerge.

After a spin through the indoor Orchid Show at the New York Botanical Garden last week, I couldn’t wait to get outside and see what was coming up in the Ladies Border and Perennial Garden, just beyond the steps to the Haupt Conservatory.

I love these little snow crocuses.

The full botanical name is Crocus chrysanthus ‘Snow Bunting.’